Laguna Amputee Is Ready to Go the Distance
Andy Bailey, a 71-year-old tri-athlete, returns to the running circuit this weekend with a high-tech prosthetic leg. Staff photo by Ted Reckas Laguna Beach resident Andy Bailey, age 71, plans to run in a 5K race this weekend. It won't be his first, or his longest, but, as his first race with a prosthesis instead of his own right foot, it may well be one of the toughest.
A retired social worker that began running races three decades ago, Bailey ran his first marathon in 1982, his first triathlon in 1989 and won his age group at the Olympic-distance Wildflower triathlon in Monterey in 2004 at the age of 65.
Bailey was still training six days a week in December 2006 when he was disabled by a freak accident. While washing his car in the driveway, he looked up to see a runaway laundry delivery van barreling down on him, its panicked driver running beside it. Bailey was between his car and a railing when the van struck both, propelling him beyond the railing and down a steep incline. He was alive, but something was terribly wrong. His right shoelace had gotten caught in something in the course of his fall, yanking his foot horrendously until it finally came out of the shoe.
Bailey miraculously survived what could easily have been a fatal accident, but damage to his foot was severe. "I saw my whole world gone; thought that everything I loved to do was finished," he said.
Doctors attempted to save the foot by fusing the ankle and putting a titanium rod through the tibia. An infection contracted two weeks after the surgery prevented the ankle from fusing and healing, and Bailey battled infections and excruciating pain for the next 14 months. His wife Jeri became a virtual live-in nurse, constantly dressing wounds.
Released after seven weeks in the hospital, Bailey went back to his multi-level, stair-ridden home with a walker. Though he graduated to crutches, making him slightly more ambulatory, his wife's assistance became indispensable in so many activities he had previously been able to accomplish solo. It was a trying time, and the Baileys are glad their marriage was strong enough to get them through it.
Previously, Bailey had never even met an amputee, though through the Orange County Track Club he had participated in fundraisers for the Challenged Athletes Foundation, which distributes grants to disabled people. Now, he is one of them, and is, in unforeseen ways, the richer for it. "This is a new journey for us," Jeri explained. "We never would have met such wonderful people."
The doctors first brought up the possibility of amputation in July 2007. Letting go of a limb, even a painful one, is not an easy decision. In the end, it was talking to CAF amputees who helped Bailey to see that "there is life after amputation." He spoke to people who had suffered for years with virtually useless limbs, whose lives and mobility improved exponentially after amputation.
As did Bailey's. He was fitted with his first prosthesis in April 2008 and then received a permanent one that September. Even if the fusion of his own ankle had been successful, he would have been more disabled than he is now. And Jeri is thrilled to have a husband who is back to doing normal things like taking out the trash.
But Bailey's long-term goal goes beyond household chores. "I've got this thing in my brain that I want to do a triathlon again," he said, though he concedes that getting fit after convalescing for two years is no easy feat. And, while it is a relief to be rid of antibiotics, pain pills and crutches, Bailey says he still contends with phantom pain, which others say will lessen but never really go away.
Bailey perseveres. Last October, he swam 1.2 miles as part of a relay in the CAF-sponsored San Diego Triathlon Challenge. And he has since participated in the swim leg of three triathlons, with his friend Fermin Camarena doing the run and bike portions on a special tricycle. He has also done three indoor triathlons, which include a 10-minute swim, 20 minutes on the spinner bike and 15 minutes on the treadmill.
Bailey can walk with his Veri- Flex foot, but not bike or run, which is why he sticks to the swim portions of the outdoor triathlons. While the prosthetist fit him with a permanent socket for his stump, there are different "attachments" for different activities.
Last February, just weeks before his amputation, Bailey and his wife attended a banquet for outstanding endurance athletes hosted by Competitor Magazine. By chance, Tabi King, the director of marketing for Ossur Americas, a prosthetics company in Aliso Viejo, sat next to them. Ossur helps disabled athletes with their prosthetic needs. King told Bailey that when he was ready for a Flex Runner, he had only to let her know and Ossur would supply it.
In March, Bailey received his "running foot," a futuristic feat of engineering that resembles a curvy ski. "It's like being on a pogo stick," said Bailey, indicating it will take some getting used to before he can really go the distance with it.
Until now, Bailey has not been able to get fit by running, so in addition to swimming, he's been working out with Mike Catanzaro at Laguna's Sport Performance Institute, using equipment designed to help people with disabilities and weak points. "He's progressing beautifully and getting stronger," said Catanzaro."
On Sunday, Bailey will put his Flex Runner to its first test, a 5K fundraiser race sponsored by the Orange County Track Club to benefit Estancia High School's cross country team. "If I could do 100 yards, I'd be happy," he said, knowing his stump will take some conditioning to get used to the 160 pounds of pressure hitting it with each step of the Flex Runner. His plan is to "start slow and keep progressing," until he can compete in a full triathlon.
Jeri hopes her husband's experience will prove inspiring to others. "We're trying to move beyond what happened," she said.
They are on their way.
